The star Cuban wrestler Mijaín López defeated the Azerbaijani Sabah Shariati (4-1) on Monday to secure a spot in the grand final of the 130 kilograms in the Greco-Roman style at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
López, king in Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio de Janeiro 2016, and Tokyo 2020, dominated the fight without setbacks and set everything up to achieve the goal of obtaining his fifth crown under the five rings, something unprecedented individually in combat sports.
Before the semifinal, the "Giant of Herradura" eliminated South Korean Lee Seung-chan (7-0) and then one of the favorites, Iranian Amir Mirzazadeh, the reigning champion of the 2023 Belgrade World Championship.
The Antillean has barely registered two losses in the last 16 years (2011, 2015 against the Turkish Riza Kayalp) and his only defeat in these competitions occurred on August 24, 2004, when he lost to the Russian Kashan Baroev in Athens, Greece.
Undoubtedly, at 41 years of age, the dominance of the Caribbean athlete continues to be overwhelming and defies the prediction of the prestigious American magazine Sports Illustrated, which forecast a bronze medal for him.
He, also a five-time world champion, will face the winner of the match between the Chilean naturalized Cuban Yasmani Acosta and the Chinese Lingzhe Meng, who will clash in just a few seconds.
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